Supreme Court upholds death sentence of Akron man

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing the mother of his two children and her boyfriend.

The court ruled 6-1 Thursday to reject arguments raised by attorneys for Dawud Spaulding of Akron.

He was sentenced to die for killing 28-year-old Erika Singleton and 31-year-old Ernest Thomas outside her Akron home in December 2011. Court records show Singleton had a protective order against Spaulding at the time. Prosecutors said Spaulding had stalked and terrorized Singleton before killing her.

Singleton also was convicted in a related shooting hours earlier that left Thomas’ nephew paralyzed.

Spaulding’s appeal argued he should have had separate trials for the slayings and for shooting the nephew.

A dissent by Justice William O’Neill said Spaulding deserved new separate trials.